Been Trying To Find The Words
by theywillneverknow
Summary: One-shot Pepperony with a cameo from Clois. Tony gets bored at a Christmas party and somehow ends up taking advice from one Miss Lois Lane. "It's Mrs Lane-Kent."


**Title**: Been Trying To Find The Words  
**Prompt**: . (Tux with coloured ribbons)  
**Rating**: G  
**Warnings**: DC and Marvel verses cross over. Also first attempt at humour/fluff for a while so...sorry.  
**Summary**: Tony gets bored at a Christmas party and somehow ends up taking advice from Miss Lois Lane. "It's Mrs Lane-Kent."  
**Note:** Originally written for its_always_been on livejournal challenge 01. No beta and typed up very quickly. Enjoy!

Been Trying To Find The Words

Tony wasn't sure how he had ended up dancing with the fearsome Lois Lane but she was surprisingly adept at waltzing.

"You should tell her, you know."

"I'm sorry?"

They were drifting around the edge of the dance floor, catching their breath after an impressive display of footwork and twirling. They had managed to entice quite a few couples onto the dance floor; Lois claimed that it was their superior ballroom skills but Tony disagreed. The black dress Lois was wearing had already received quite a bit of attention from men and women alike and spinning around in it, showing it off to its full potential was probably more alluring than their dance steps.

Tony was sure that Lois had only accepted his offer of a dance because she was as bored as he was.

The only other person that had formed his own little black rain cloud in the corner was Nick Fury who was nursing a whiskey and glowering at anybody stupid enough to get within a 10 foot radius.

SHIELD had organised a Christmas party in the hopes of integrating the Avengers and the Justice League. The party was really just a cover up to get everyone in the same room but the press had been overjoyed at the notion of the rich and famous gathering together for a Winter Gala. Invites had been sent out to the wealthy and the recognised, super hero and non-super hero. It was all a very clever rouse so that, if anyone checked the guest list, it would look like any other party for the well-to-do socialites of America.

Of course Tony was bored. How could he _not_ be?

So he was stuck with 'Mad Dog Lane' talking in riddles that she seemed to think he should understand.

"You should tell her." The brunette repeated, quirking her eyebrow at something over Tony's shoulder.

When he turned them in a semi circle to follow her gaze, his eyes fell upon the figure of Pepper Potts talking with Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen. She was smiling brightly and gesturing animatedly much to the delight of the blonde Queen. Even Bruce seemed to have a strange quirk to his lips that Tony was sure was substituting a smile. Pepper seemed to have their full attention and, Tony admitted proudly, she was a vision in her outfit. If Lois had been stunning, Pepper had quite literally taken his breath away. Her dress was golden silk and it flowed around her like she had been born to wear it. The back was low but respectable and it showed her off her long, graceful neck leading all the way to her up-do where her fiery red locks tumbled and spilled from the clip in curls. The highlights of the summer had disappeared and her hair was returning to the natural, darker red that it was normally for the rest of the year. Oliver laughed at something she said and she turned, smiling brightly, to catch Tony's stare across the dance floor. He could tell, even from this distance, that her deep, deep blue eyes were sparkling as she nodded towards the door and held up both hands.

_10 minutes._

They each turned back to their respective partners and Tony was hit full in the face with Lois' smug grin.

"And, what exactly, is it that I should tell Pepper, Miss Lane?"

"It's Mrs Lane-Kent." The reporter corrected automatically.

"My apologies. Congratulations are in order."

"You can call me Lois if it means you'll stop trying to avoid the subject." Lois waved him off with an aggravated roll of her hazel eyes. "You need to tell Pepper that you love her." She announced this like it was the most obvious conclusion in the world.

Tony frowned, his eyes travelling the distance of the dance floor once again to find Bruce Wayne offering Pepper another glass of champagne.

"She knows how I feel about her." He insisted, adamantly.

He was greeted with another roll of Lois' eyes when his gaze finally returned to her face.

"Contrary to popular belief, Mr Stark, we women are not actually mind readers. And being a super hero's side kick doesn't make it any easier to discern someone's feelings." Her tone held a hint of frustrated fondness and Tony's prying ears picked up on it immediately.

"Ah yes, you and the Big Guy." Tony watched as her face twitched with amusement. "So which one is he?" His eyes scanned the ballroom floor eagerly but all he saw were ordinary looking men in tuxedos. "Which one is Superman?"

"I could tell you." Lois hinted coyly. "But then I'd have to kill you." Her voice dropped to being over dramatically serious and her eyes widened conspiratorially.

Tony laughed and was still chuckling when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, mind if I steal my wife away?"

Tony turned to face Lois' husband and was surprised by what he found. Clark Kent was not at all what he had imagined. Lois was legendary in her fierceness, intellect and beauty. Her husband was...nerdy. He was good looking enough, Tony supposed, but the way he held himself just didn't seem to fit. If Lois had indeed been in love with Superman how could this guy possibly measure up?

_'Don't judge a book by its cover.'_

"Of course." Tony stepped back and stuck out his hand. "You must be Clark Kent. Tony Stark, nice to meet you."

Clark pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose and the two men shook hands with a smile. Just as Clark was about to reply, the large clock at the top of the hall chimed midnight and streamers burst from the roof. A rainbow mixture of red, blue and yellow streamers filled the hall. Clark turned to his wife with a grin.

"You're like a lovesick teenager, you know that?"

Tony was surprised at the amount of fondness that accompanied that statement but he had already realised that he would never fathom Lois Lane. Tony lifted an eyebrow in her direction.

"I take it you had something to do with the decorations?"

Lois patted Clark on the chest and didn't take her eyes off her husband as she answered Tony, he got the distinct impression that they were sharing some private joke that he would rather not understand.

"Of course. No better colour combination than red, blue and yellow, Stark."

He laughed as he realised that the colours coordinated with Superman's costume and Lois nodded towards the dance floor. Tony watched as Pepper approached, her golden dress swirling around her legs as she walked, several strands of red fringe straying into her blue eyes as her hair slowly came undone. She looked absolutely beautiful.

"Couldn't agree more, Lois."

Lois smiled and punched him lightly in the arm as her own personal form of goodbye.

"We better get going." She brushed a red streamer from Clark's shoulder as his left arm wound around her waist in a move that clearly had years of practice. "Remember: tell her." Her voice was firm, insistent and her husband nudged her with his hip, probably to remind her of her manners. She merely sighed and shook her head in a way that was obviously secret, woman body language for _'eurgh, men'._

"Goodbye, Mr Stark. It was nice to meet you and hopefully I'll see you again soon." Clark shook Tony's hand and the Lane-Kents wandered off towards the exit. Tony watched the married couple walk away and couldn't help but smile at their comfortable intimacy. Clark may not have been what Tony had pictured for Lois' husband but, now that he'd seen them together, he couldn't imagine anyone more perfect.

"Hey." Pepper's soft voice brought him back to reality and he drank her in with his eyes, from her flushed cheeks to the hand that held her dress off the floor and away from her feet. She smiled at him, her teeth flashing white past invitingly pink lips, and plucked several of the brightly coloured streamers from the lapels and shoulders of his jacket. She straightened his shirt and tie with her nimble, practiced fingers and he could not tear his eyes away from her. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Perfect." His voice wavered slightly and she frowned briefly.

"Okay, well we should go then. Happy is going to bring the limo around and we'll head to the hotel." Pepper announced as organised and precise as ever. She swivelled on her heels and took one step towards the exit before he took her elbow gently and spun her back around, into his chest. Her free hand came up to rest on the arc reactor as she was caught off balance. "Tony what are you-"

"I love you."

"What?"

She blinked very slowly up at him and her eyes were the largest he'd ever seen them. The look of wonder, awe, hope he found there encouraged him to clear his throat and try again.

"I love you. I'm in love with you. I've fallen for you. All variations of the above." He tried a half grin but it came out as more of a grimace. He knew there was a reason Pepper usually wrote all of his important speeches; Tony Stark was no Wordsworth. Just as he was trying to figure out how to proclaim his undying love for her in a more romantic way, Pepper closed the small distance between them and kissed him softly.

"Took you long enough." She was close enough that he could feel her lips moving against his, their breaths mingling as he sighed a laugh before kissing her again.

When she pulled away, he tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and lead them towards the door with a ridiculously goofy grin plastered on his face. His brain was racing at speeds faster than he could comprehend but it suddenly stalled upon a realisation.

"So...you love me too right?" He chanced a nonchalant, sideways glance at her and noted the coy smirk playing about her lips.

"Sometimes."

"Only sometimes? Potts, you wound me."

There was a pause of comfortable silence.

"But, seriously, you do love me, yeah?"

Pepper laughed and patted his cheek fondly.

"I've been in love with you for longer than I'll willingly admit to. I wouldn't have stuck around this long if I didn't, Tony." She squeezed his elbow gently and he smiled at her.

"And here I just thought you liked Stark Industries' health plan."

The sound of her laughter followed them out of the hall and into the snow.

_&&Fin_


End file.
